Learning in Costa Rica

We all know trips are fun to experience and are a good opportunity to learn about the area you are visiting. A group of seventh- and eighth-grade students traveled to Costa Rica, and, as an eighth-grader, I was included on the trip. I would also like to thank Jody McCormack for planning this trip and making sure all of us had the best time. She also made sure everyone was safe with the help of the parents who went along.

After a long day of flying to Costa Rica, we met our tour guide, Ana, and bus driver, Iris. Iris was the best bus driver. He could fit the bus into tight spaces, and no matter the obstacle, he made it through. Ana told us a little about what we would be doing during the nine days we were there.

Throughout the trip, we spent each night in a different hotel in a different part of Costa Rica. Each hotel had a pool, and we would swim at night or during the day. Some of the most fun and best learning experiences came during the longer activities. One great learning experience was kayaking.

The river we kayaked down had a lot of turns and obstacles such as rock piles. During the kayaking trip, we learned about nature and were able to hear howler monkeys. At one point, we stopped to eat cut pineapple and watermelon from the guides, swim in the river, then started back up while students and guides splashed each other.

One of the other eighth-grade students, Madilynn Derifield, said, “The activity I liked the most was kayaking. I had fun even though I annoyed my kayaking partner and ended up with Mrs. McCormack and almost tipped us over.”

Once we were done, Iris took us to lunch with the river guides. During kayaking, pictures were taken that we got to watch while eating lunch before returning to the hotel.

Another favorite experience for students was the beach and seeing nature in its natural form somewhere they had never been before. Two students shared their thoughts.

“My favorite part was probably being at the beach, seeing all of the animals and tropical environment,” Sophie Tschacher said.

“My favorite part of Costa Rica is probably the beach,” Treydon Purviance said.

The beach was a wonderful experience because everyone got the chance to swim in the Caribbean Sea. We were also able to play volleyball with kids from various places. Seeing nature in Costa Rica was genuinely nice. While walking to the beach, we saw a snake, but unfortunately we had to stay away because it was venomous.

The pineapple plantation was another favorite for students. Mershaya Bridge, who loves pineapples, said it was her favorite experience in Costa Rica. During our time at the plantation, the tour guide and his worker helped us pick our very own pineapple.

We also had a hilarious accident there. We had a different group of students with us, and one of our students, Braylee Borton, went to throw a pineapple and accidentally hit one of the adults in the other group. Everyone from both groups laughed, and after a little while we headed back to the main area of the plantation.

At the main area, we had nonalcoholic piña coladas. After drinking our drinks and taking pictures, we left.

Another student, Mya Stout, loved the pineapple plantation but also enjoyed the coffee plantation, where we learned how several types of coffee beans are made. We also had the option of drinking coffee and trying chocolate once we returned to the main area of the coffee plantation.

We also visited people who were native to Costa Rica, including our guide. He helped us with the experience because he served as an interpreter. In one area, we learned about traditional medicine, natural makeup from nature, their culture and how to make hot chocolate from scratch.

Making chocolate from scratch took a lot of work because there were so many steps to remember. I was surprised they did this almost every day. After going through all the steps, we were able to taste the different stages of the hot chocolate. The result was amazingly good, and I wished I could take it with me, but I could not.

With the same instructor, we took a Caribbean cooking class and made many different foods and products for skin and hair. We made coconut milk, coconut oil, rice and beans, patacones, ripe plantains and coconut cajeta for dessert. We helped make all of these, though some of the steps had already been done because it would have taken days or weeks to finish completely.

Another great learning experience was learning about bats. Learning about bats in Costa Rica was an amazing experience because we got to see several types of bats and watched a pregnant bat be released into the wild. The guides taught us about bats and how to tell the difference between species. We did this at night so we could see the bats awake instead of sleeping.

These are just some of the favorite and most memorable experiences students had in Costa Rica. There were many more experiences that you just had to be there for.

After all the different learning experiences we had in Costa Rica, we came back with new knowledge about a place most of us had never been to before. The students and adults who got sunburned also came back with nice tans.

Once again, I would love to thank Jody McCormack, the science teacher who took us on this trip, for planning it, making sure everyone had fun and keeping us all safe. Another thanks goes to the adults who went because they played a big part in helping Mrs. McCormack. I know they might not see this, but I would also like to thank Ana, our full-time guide, and Iris for giving us the best Costa Rica experience anyone could ask for.

One more thank you goes to the students who went on this trip and included everyone to help make it such a great experience.